Because
by PerfectMisfit
Summary: . . .you have a soul, you cry. Because you have a soul, you laugh. Because you have a soul, you feel rage, you feel sorrow. Because you have a soul, you feel fear. UlquiHime in 20 prompts.


**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Bleach**

**Rain**

He stares at the overcast skies, at the drops of water that lash against the window, at the wet scene in front of him through his green eyes. She calls this phenomenon the rain. She says she'd like to be like it - she'd like to bind two hearts together the way the rain binds the sky and the ground.

He doesn't see what she means by that. She already bound two hearts together - his non-existent one and hers that overflows with selflessness.

**Warmth**

She wraps her fingers around his bony wrist. He realises only now how his hand is as cold as ice next to her warm one.

**Relief**

He doesn't know what this is and he hates not knowing what it is. His head is spinning, bile is churning in his stomach and his hands are shaking. She calls this fear.

"Ulquiorra-kun," she's at his side. Her arms are wrapped around his shoulders, and instantly, he feels comfort.

This is what she calls relief. And he likes it.

**Prize**

She's not a prize, not in the usual sense in any case, but he can't help but think that winning her heart is a competition, in which her heart itself is a prize that should be treasured and cherished dearly.

**Heart**

She's always talking about it so freely. He's only ever known it to be an organ situated in the chest of a human body. She's rocking back and forth, wearing a serene smile. He walks up to her and scowls slightly as she shies away - he's not going to hurt her.

"Woman," he starts. "what's a heart?"

Her smile widens as she holds his hand and presses it against her chest. He can feel a steady _thumping _beneath his hand.

"That's what a heart is."

**Fear**

He's always liked the silence that surrounds him. It's been like that for as long as he can remember. That is until she entered his life and then he started feeling all these emotions and he started taking an interest in her...

...he dreads now, the silence he once welcomed with open arms.

**Death**

His wings are beginning to turn to dust. His vision is blurring and the sounds around him - Kurosaki's crying, Inoue's pitiful weeping - are beginning to dull. He's dying - it's finally hit him. He reaches out to touch her, to feel her warm hand again, only to find that he misses her by centimetres.

She's crying. She's crying for him.

And that's the last thing he sees before sleep embraces him

**Sky**

If he were to compare the size of her heart to the sky, he believes it wouldn't be too absurd or too exaggerated a comparison.

**Hope**

She's always so full of hope - blind hope - believing without the shadow of a doubt that nothing will go wrong as long as she has hope.

"Are you scared, woman?" He asks. She doesn't tremeble, she doesn't shake - heck, she doesn't even bat an eyelid.

"No...I'm not scared..." she breathes out shakily. She inhales deeply. "My friends will come for me."

He wonders how she can be so hopeful in the face of fear. But if he could be even half as hopeful as she is in such a situation, he'd be so much better a being.

**Sacrifice**

She'd happily give herself up for her friends, her family if it was ever necessary. There is nothing he would give up his name, his pride, his reputation or his life up for. He wonders sometimes, if he will ever grow to love his comrades as much as she does - enough to sacrifice himself for them, as she would do for those she loves.

**Wonder**

Her life is so much different from his - filled with joy and laughter and smiles and so many other wonderful things. His life is silent; dull; grey; boring and there's hardly anything to admire in it, except for one thing which is her.

And he believes that is more than enough.

**Child**

Orihime believes Ulquiorra-kun is a child trapped inside an adult's body, dying to break out someday. He goes through life without fully understanding it's beauty or it's diversity. He's just so blank and curious in a strangely innocent way, that she can't help but find it cute.

**Chocolate**

He slowly peels the wrapper off and she chuckles at his wariness. There's some strange brown substance beneath the red wrapper. He surveys it with narrowed eyes - Aizen-sama has never sanctioned their eating of this strange substance. He sinks his teeth into it and bites of a chunk and the first thing he registers is how sweet it is.

He shook his head at how this 'chocolate' didn't exist in Hueco Mundo.

**Punishment**

He has never had to feel - Aizen-sama wants strong warriors who do not let pathetic feelings like love and happiness get in their way. And this Orihime woman was making it very hard to keep that up - it was only after he met her that he began to feel. Initially it was just a tiny prickle of guilt or maybe a strange tingling in his fingers.

She calls them emotions - love; fear; sorrow; happiness.

Exactly what he doesn't need. But she's interesting him - he's never met someone like her before, someone so full of life and vivacity, optimism and joy.

Aizen will punish him for taking an interest in a measly human - but she's worth the punishment.

**Guilt**

There are tears in those huge brown orbs. She's selfless, he muses, on how she'd leave everything she ever cherished just to keep her friends safe. He knows he'd never do it. As he's leading her towards Aizen-sama's throne, he tries to ignore the prick of emotion that rushes through him. He doesn't not need guilt, but he can't stop himself from feeling it.

**Real World**

He takes in the vast stretches of green, the blue sky dotted with ivory clouds, the buildings, the banners, the people chattering away as they move along the street. It's so different from Hueco Mundo, he reflects. Hueco Mundo is so quiet and bland and colourless. On some level, he actually likes this rush and hubub.

"So, Ulquiorra-kun, do you like the real world?" she gushes.

He does - it's a pleasant change from Hueco Mundo.

**Laughter**

Her laughter is as sweet as music - it's like eating a piece of mango on a hot summer's day.

**Beauty**

She's donning a checked apron, her hair's tucked beneath a cap, her sleeves are rolled up to her elbows and strands of fiery-orange hair are falling over her face. She's bending over her flower garden, humming a strange melody in her sweet voice.

She's the most beautiful thing he's seen. Actually, she's the only thing he even considers beautiful.

**Love**

Ulquiorra Schiffer is a simple person and he likes to stay simple. His life is simple, his way of dressing is simple, his fighting style is simple - and extremely lethal and not to mention, merciless - everything about him is simple. In fact, he's so simple, it's actually complex.

Despite his simplicity, he enjoys the complexity of love.

**Dream**

He's never dreamt before; not until he ment her. "Do you remember what you dream of, Ulquiorra-kun?" she asks. He shakes his head.

"I do." She continues. "They say we remember little of what we dream. Imagine how little you must dream of then..."

He doesn't tell her, but sometimes he does dream of a flash of long red hair, huge brown eyes and the sweetest smile that possibly exists.

**Well, what do you think? Reviews and concrit are welcome :D. I kind of like this - it's my first time writing this pairing, so I'm sorry about the OOC. Y'know, I used to think this pairing was stupid, but after watching the Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo conclusion...well...UlquiHime is sort of nice...**


End file.
